Marauders & Co
by thDarksIdehascookiez
Summary: The Marauders & Co are about to enter their sixth year, but it certainly won't be an easy ride. With more jealousy, heartbreak and pain than ever before, will they pull through?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- Lily Evans P.O.V**

_TICK TICK TICK went_ a student's wrist-watch, counting down the minutes until they were free to escape the dank, gloomy, claustrophobic dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where two dozen or so teenagers were sitting their written Potions OWL exam.

Seated at the front of the classroom, Lily Evans, a girl with shimmering, dark red hair, stole a nervous glance up at the stern examiner looming over the students, before returning to the very last question of the paper, feather quill poised in mid-air.

_What ingredients are needed to make Polyjuice Potion?_

Closing her almond-shaped, deep jade eyes, her mind wandered back to the night before, where she had sat by the crackling log fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, rereading her notes for what felt like the millionth time, amidst her fellow fifth years, as well as the gangly seventh years cramming for their N.E. . Abruptly, the answer seemed to swim to the front of Lily's mind. Sighing with relief, for she had panicked a little when the answer had failed to appeared instantly, she scribbled down the rather extensive list of ingredients.

"Quills down, everyone" the booming voice of the examiner echoed through the dungeon, "Please remain seated whilst I collect your answers"

Once he had performed the summoning charm on every roll of parchment in the dungeon, Lily walked to the back of the classroom, where two of her friends, Michelle Cusworth and Mary McDonald were waiting for her, the latter of which looking even paler than usual.

"How about we head to the lake?" Michelle asked once they reached the Entrance Hall outside the Great Hall, where the two remaining cogs in their circle of friends, Laura Dixon and Annabelle Spinnet, were sitting their written Defence Against the Dark Arts exam.

The vast oak doors were being held open by magic to allow the scorching June sunlight to bounce off the walls and the slight hint of a breeze to wash over the three teenagers. On reaching the shore of the Black Lake, the girls headed to their favourite spot underneath one of the smaller beech trees right at the water's edge, where they would often kick off their shoes and socks in warm weather, allowing the cool water to lap their ankles.

Ten minutes later, the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam seemed to have ended, because Laura and Annabelle came hurtling toward them, bags hanging off their soldiers. Basking in the humid, blistering heat, they lay giggling and chatting for how long, Lily didn't know, until Annabelle (who sat facing the centre of the haven) prodded Lily on the arm.

"Look," she muttered, grinning slyly, "Potter's goggling at you again"

The girls all giggled except Lily; it seemed there was a long running argument about Lily and this 'Potter'.

Lily turned her head reluctantly, knowing it was the only way to shut her friends up.

James Potter, a skinny boy with glasses and ruffled, raven black hair, was playing with a snitch he had evidently stolen from Quidditch. This was one of the many reasons she hated Potter. He thought he had ownership rights over anything that took his fancy. Never mind the fact it belonged to someone else, if Potter wanted it, Potter would have it.

Meanwhile, darkly handsome Sirius Black seemed to have been irritated by something the groups standing joke Peter Pettigrew had been doing, because he interjected James midway through throwing and catching the bewitching, golden, miniature ball, and Peter's chubby face turned beetroot. When Lily turned back around, all eight eyebrows were raised at her.

"What? There's nothing going on!"

"Maybe not for you…" Annabelle muttered.

Lily gave up on defending herself; she knew her friends would never drop the subject until she declared undying love for James Potter. She buried her head in her transfiguration textbook until Lily heard a great wave of laughter in the background.

Potter was now stood up with Black and Pettigrew, pointing his wand at Severus Snape. The most mature of the group, Remus Lupin, was buried in the same textbook as Lily had just been, except his eyes were moving across the page. Sev had clearly had the impedimenta jinx put mercilessly on him, as he was writhing desperately on the hard ground as if bound by invisible ropes. She didn't stop to think about her next move…

Abandoning her many books and belongings, and ignoring the desperate attempts of her friends for her to stay seated ("Don't get involved, Lils!"), she stormed up to them, one hand in the pocket of her robes clasping her long, willow wand. Severus' mouth was full of fuchsia coloured soap bubbles now. Sev was spluttering, suffocating; if Lily didn't do something soon…

"Leave him alone!" Lily bellowed furiously. As soon as James saw her (to Lily's great irritation) his hand shot up to tousle his dark hair, leaving it even more dishevelled than before.

"All right Evans?" His voice had changed. It was soft now, caressing even. Lily felt a slight blush reach her cheeks.

"Leave him alone" Lily echoed, calmer now, but without loosening her grip on her wand, "What's he ever done to you anyway?"

"Well," James said, smirking arrogantly, "it's more the fact that he exists than anything else…"

Everyone in the surrounding area hooted maliciously, except Remus Lupin, who was still staring determinedly at his book, and Lily, whose boiling blood was pulsing rapidly around her body.

How could they be so cruel? Thought Lily, tears of fury forming in her emerald eyes.

"You may think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant, bullying toe rag, Potter" She spat," Leave him ALONE!"

Potter pulled Lily close to him, tucking her hair behind her ear as he did so, and whispered, "I will if you go out with me," Lily had never heard Potter's voice so tender, "Go on. Go out with me and I'll never both ol' Snivelly again." This brought her back to her senses; what was she doing, falling for Potter's trick? How dare he blackmail her!?

If she hadn't been a prefect she would have whacked him so hard he would have lost the ability to move.

Pushing James away from her, Lily announced so that everyone could hear, "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!"

Potter looked aggrieved; Black was staring daggers at Lily; a moment later however, Potter recovered his strut.

"Your loss Evans…"

All of a sudden, there came an almost bark-like shout from Black, "Oi!"

He wasn't quick enough though. Severus, free from the levicorpus jinx, made a deep gash in Potter's cheek with is wand, splattering blood everywhere.

Next Minute, Severus had keeled over, stiff as a board. Lily lost control completely.

"TAKE THE JINX OFF!" yelled Lily as she whipped out her wand and pointed it menacingly at Potter and Black.

Unwillingly, Potter performed the counter-curse.

"You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus" He jeered.

Severus lifted his head from the ground to meet Potter's triumphant face.

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapte****r Two- James Potter P.O.V**

The laughter had stopped. Everyone was silent. The anger in the crowd seemed to swell like a swarm of killer bees.  
Lily stumbled backward a few paces, shocked, horrified, disgusted at what had just escaped from Snivelly's mouth. James was shocked and mortified to glimpse tears streaming down her cheeks; she was always so indomitable. Before James could do anything but outstretch his hand toward her, she had sped off across the shore toward the castle. James went to follow her, but Sirius held him back.

"Don't Prongs" He warned.  
"But…"  
"Padfoot's right mate" Remus, it seemed, had looked up from his book long enough to witness Snape's insult, "you're that last person she'll want to see"

Furious and humiliated, James muttered 'impedimenta' inside his head, flicked his wand upward, and the next instant Snape hung upside down, suspended in the air by his ankle. His robes fell over his head to show two pale, skinny legs and a pair of grey underpants. Menacingly, the crowd jeered.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

An hour and a half had passed since they had hexed Snape, and Professor McGonagall had given James, Sirius and Peter detention for bullying 'innocent' students. James was pacing up and down the Gryffindor common room, muttering fretfully to himself.

"Where is she? She should be back by now! What if they've attacked her?"  
"If you're that worried," said Sirius irritably, breaking away from a girl he had been snogging in the corner, "then go find her, for Merlin's sake!"  
"Yeah. Yeah maybe I will"  
James sped up the stairs, ripped open the top drawer of his bedside table, and took out a plain piece of parchment and an old cloak.

Four floors down, James stood outside the Hogwarts school library, covered in the silky invisibility cloak he had inherited from his father. Outstretched between both of his hands was the Marauders Map. His eyes, which has been transfixed on the tiny black dot labelled 'Lily Evans', now searched for the vulture-like librarian, Madam Pince. Luckily, she was behind her desk, probably asleep, as she wasn't prowling the aisles, giving students' detention for breathing too loudly, which was her usual pastime. James wound his way through the aisles and circular tables. Only a few older students remained, so he easily navigated toward the darkest, most secluded area of the library without stepping on anyone. There she was.  
If possible, she looked even more beautiful than usual, despite her blotchy red face. Her startling green eyes sparkled with moisture and her hair clung to her damp face.

His intention was to stay hidden for a while, to just watch over her in case Snivellus or any of his Death Eater pals turned up. You-know-who was growing in power, and the school was dividing; more and muggle-borns and so called 'blood traitors' were getting attacked every day.  
However, he ended up tripping over the over-long cloak, knocking over two chairs and making rather a lot of noise in the process. Grasping her wand, Lily looked around, wiping the tears from under her eyes.

"Who's there?" she called out thickly.  
Reluctantly, James pulled off the invisibility cloak.  
"What d'you want Potter?" She said, propping her elbows on the oak table and massaging her forehead with her fingers.  
"I-I was worried about you. I mean, after Snivellus-"

The end of his sentence, however, was interrupted by an almighty wail, as Lily burst into obstreperous tears.  
As James panicked about how best to comfort a girl in crisis, James remembered the time when the Marauders had been bored in Divination (who wouldn't be?). Sirius had resolved to explain to them '_Sirius Black's fool proof way to get a girl: be comforting and sensitive'. _Even James didn't feel this an appropriate time to hit on Lily, but she could sure use some comforting.  
Sitting down in the chair next to her, James put his arm around Lily and pulled her closer to him like he had done that afternoon, though much gentler than he had done on the shore of the Black Lake. She originally protested, but eventually her head lolled against his chest, and she continued to cry heavily.  
They seemed to be there for ages, until finally, Lily stopped shaking and leaned back in the wooden chair, releasing herself from a reluctant James. He was so wet with salty tears he could have been wrung out. Lily groaned regretfully.

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you?" She asked worriedly, casting James a fleeting look.  
James was bemused, "What do you mean?"  
"I'm a prefect, aren't I? I'm supposed to lead by example. If I let him get to me, then what's to stop others doing the same? Besides," Lily smiled a little now, causing the knot in James' stomach to loosen slightly, "wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction"  
"Don't worry, your secrets safe with me, Lils"  
"How many time, don't call me-"  
She shut up when she spotted James raised mocking eyebrows.  
"I guess being used as a human sponge does grant some privileges"  
James chuckled merrily as he stood up, picking up the invisibility cloak and Marauders Map.

"We better get going; it's nearly time for curfew"  
"Oh! Mcgonagall will go spare if she catches us!"  
James pulled on his cloak; he lifted the side to peer at Lily expectantly, as if to say, "Come on then, get under!"  
"No way" she said indignantly, turning a light shade of pink. Girls really were a mystery.  
"You haven't really got any choice! Get under!" James whispered urgently.  
Grudgingly, she pulled herself under. James and Lily were now so close he could smell her rose scented perfume floating up from her wrist.

Making their way through the now empty library, James asked the question he had been burning to know the answer to ever since that afternoon, but he didn't really think Lily would tell him.  
"How come you were so upset about Snivellus calling you a you-know-what?" She turned to look at him directly in the eyes, making his stomach do somersaults of pleasure, "Not that it's not a bad thing to call someone, mind you. But you always just seem to… Shrug it off"  
She hesitated, then muttered, "Severus and I... let's just say we've been friends for a long time. Since we were nine actually…"  
James felt an enormous wave of detest was over him. How could Snivellus treat Lily so inhumanely when they had known each other for so long? Lily looked close to tears again.  
"Did you see his face when we put those bubbles in his mouth though?"

Determined as she was to appear disapproving, James caught a glimpse of the side of Lily's mouth, and was delighted that her thin, rosy lips were wearing a smirk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three-Lily Evans P.O.V**

After telling the Fat Lady the password ("Floo Powder!"), Lily clambered through the portrait hole behind James, noticing as she did so that she was uncomfortably close to James Potter's rear end. Once inside the crimson, inviting, homely common room, Lily nodded her goodbye to James, who looked slightly shocked at her calm demeanour, before departing for the fifth year girl's dormitory.

An explosion of sound greeted Lily as she opened the door bearing the sign: '_Fifth years'. _A second later, she was engulfed in sun kissed hair. Laura Dixon had thrown herself on Lily.

"Where have you been?" She bellowed, "We've been worried _sick_ about you! Why you selfish, little-"

Thankfully, Michelle spared Lily from the unfair sensation of guilt by giving Laura a look that clearly told Lily they had been discussing how fragile she would be after the day's events. As if to prove Lily's point Michelle warned Laura significantly, "Leave off her, Laura"  
Lily had pacified now, therefore she found her friends dramatic attempts at sensitivity quite silly. Scanning the room, Lily saw all her roommates gazing at her anxiously. All except Mary, who didn't seem to be present. Reading Lily's mind, it seemed, Annabelle mentioned something unconcernedly about Mary going to the library to study, which struck Lily as odd, for they had completed all their examinations and the only teacher they had received homework from was Professor McGonagall. In fact, she was spending more and more time in the library, but she refused to say exactly why.

Lily slumped on her four poster bed. All was silent until her stomach emitted a hungry growl.

"Oh Merlin, I forgot!" exclaimed Michelle, who was rummaging through the pocket of her robes that hung on the corner of her chest of drawers. All of a sudden a pumpkin pasty smacked Lily full force in the face, causing the girls to laugh hysterically, and Lily to glare at Michelle indignantly.

"Smuggled it from dinner" She chuckled, "thought you might be hungry."

To Lily's surprise, she found herself creasing up with laughter. After changing into cotton pyjamas, they danced around the room to a muggle record brought by Lily, by a band called _The Beatles_, the name of which Lily's dorm mates seemed to find incredibly amusing.  
Suddenly, Mary burst through the door in the middle of _Twist and Shout_. They beckoned her to join them, but she simply stared at Lily apprehensively.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Snape" Mary garbled, "He's waiting outside the common room. He's saying- he's saying he'll camp out there all night unless you go speak to him."

All the emotions that had coursed through Lily today: the stress, the sorrow and the betrayal, had reformed into a deep, bubbling pit of rage. Her face was contorted in fury. She was as angry as a disgruntled hippogriff. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled with ferocity. Lily had pulled on her dressing gown and was at the top of the stone staircase before Laura, Mary, Annabelle and Michelle had raced after her.

"You're not actually going to talk to that scumbag are you?" Laura asked incredulously, as the five of them clattered down the steps, "He's worth less than Merlin's saggy left-"

Lily interrupted her, "I know you're only looking out for me, but I've got to talk to him!"

Given the lateness of the hour, the girls had expected the common room to be empty. Instead, they found the four Gryffindor fifth year boys sprawled across several armchairs.  
Lily was, now she had time to get her head straight, mortified at how openly she had poured her heart out to the boy she had always detested. Her embarrassment was covered up, however, by Annabelle, who swooned when Sirius Black flashed a roguish, playful grin in her direction. Luckily, Mary was at hand to support her before she collapsed on the carpet.

"I don't want you two listening in-" (her gaze lingered on James and Laura) "-this isn't going to be pretty"

Severus was settled against the opposite wall, staring at his feet. The Fat Lady was eyeing him suspiciously.

"What do you want, Sev?" Lily snarled.

Hastily, Severus rose and reached for Lily's hands, but she wrenched them away.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not interested."

"I'm sorry!"

"Save your breath" She hissed, folding her arms, "I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep out here."

"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you a mudblood, it just-"

"Slipped out?" Said Lily sceptically, "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your little Death Eater friends-" He moved shiftily from foot to foot, but did not defend himself, "-you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join you-know-you, can you?"

His mouth fell open as if to speak, but he closed it without uttering a word.

"I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

"No- listen" He was successful at keeping hold of her hands this time. He looked straight into Lily's eyes with his dark, tunnel-like ones, "I didn't mean-"

Lily growled menacingly, "To call me a mudblood? But you call every one of my birth mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"

Giving a disgusted look at the sallow boy, she clambered back through the portrait hole, leaving her closest friend gaping heart-broken at her in the corridor.

* * *

**I'm taking a hint from starkid and using foreshadowing with the bit about Mary - I know it seems random, but there is a reason for it.**

**Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"How long left Prongs?"

The four Marauders sat huddled closely together at the Gryffindor table, running over the strategy for the one of the greatest pranks in the history of Hogwarts.

It had been Peter's idea. James thought he had suggested the uncharacteristically brilliant idea out of sheer boredom, but Sirius and Remus knew better. They knew Peter was trying to edge James' worries away from Lily Evans, who had not been sighted since she had been taken out of History of Magic by a grim Professor McGonagall three days ago.

"Twelve minutes exactly." whispered James at the very moment their eccentric, thin, silver-haired headmaster took to the podium.

"Another year of learning is over…"

To give the four boys credit, they did bother listening for over a minute, which was more than usual. Sirius began to doze off onto his empty plate, James was throwing his golden snitch up and down and Peter was gazing at him avidly. Remus was watching Dumbledore, but the fact that he was checking his watch every few seconds made it clear he was only pretending to listen.  
"And now," Dumbledore announced, making them jump, "for our feast"  
Thrice he clapped his hands as he perched back down, and the four house tables filled with mountains of food.

One…Two…Three…

It was pandemonium.

Students shrieked as their goblets sprayed pumpkin juice over their garments; gravy, roast potatoes and chicken pie were being propelled through the air at them by the plates and dishes. Only Albus Dumbledore hadn't been disconcerted by the outbreak; in actual fact, he had the aspect of a man thoroughly entertained. Chin resting on his spindly, intertwined fingers, he smiled serenely at the unfolding scene, humming _Love is Like a Bludger to the Head_, the latest ballad by _Celestina Warbeck. _Now underneath the Gryffindor table (having being dragged under by Remus when the mayhem broke out) the Marauders whooped successfully at their own brilliance.

That very morning, the four boys had sneaked down to the school kitchens. Remus being the most adept at Charms, he had been the one to bewitch the goblets and platters to attack just after Dumbledore finished his speech. The house elves hadn't even seemed to mind; they had let the band get on with it, although they most certainly knew what they were up to.  
Sirius much preferred eating down in the kitchens than the Great Hall; the squeaky, diminutive creatures would run up to you with any number of cakes and delicious treats that would normally have been devoured by the time he had swaggered off to lunch. It depressed him a little to think of Kreacher, his family's psychopathic house elf (who never lost the opportunity to tell tales of Sirius' wrongdoings to his mother) awaiting him at 'home'.

Meanwhile, the staff weren't having any more luck than the students to subdue the anarchy. Professor Sprout ambled to the right of the Hall to shield the pots of Flutterby bushes she had placed there for a change of décor. Professor Flitwick sent immense, billowing, scorching flames to catch everyone's attention, but that just caused bigger panic. Most hilarious of all, Argus Filch was sprinting up and down the aisles between the house tables, roaring at Peeves the Poltergeist, who aided the pottery in their quest gleefully.

Remus laughed, "Look at Lockhart!"

Prissy sixth year Gilderoy Lockhart was stood atop the Ravenclaw table, yelling hysterically as several bowl of sticky toffee pudding fired at him, ruining the hair he had undoubtedly spent two hours perfecting.  
At least some students were making the most of the food fight. Frank Longbottom from the fourth year was playfully throwing cream cakes at his Hufflepuff girlfriend, Alice Fortescue. Further up from Lockhart on the Ravenclaw table, Xenophilius Lovegood was pointing out of one of the huge windows yelling "Look! A Blibbering Humbinger!"  
Over on the Slytherin table, Rabastan Lestrange, Snivellus and the rest of the tables aspiring Death Eaters were looking downright murderous, which made Sirius guffaw even louder than he already was.

After ten minutes of this, Dumbledore, it seemed, decided enough food had been wasted, for he waved his wand, there was a flash of light and everything lay still.  
"After that, erm… interesting spectacle, I rather feel we could all use a nice, hot shower. Food will be provided for you in your common rooms."  
Innocently, the Marauders filed out. Sirius barely contained his laughter when his brother Regulus stalked past, covered from head to foot in cold, clammy custard.

* * *

At nine O' clock the next morning Sirius, James, Remus and Peter caught the Hogwarts Express at Hogsmeade station with the rest of the school.  
No sooner as they evicted six timid first years from one of the best compartments, had Remus buried himself in a textbook, Peter began composing a letter to his over-protective mother and James situated himself beside the window, gazing out of it, overcome with concern. Organizing the prank for the end-of-term feast had distracted him, but now his mind was clear he was overtaken with worry for a certain fiery red- head.

Sirius hated seeing James like this, and he hated Evans. Ever since first year, James had been taking Lily's crap, covering up how shattered he felt with his haughty attitude whenever she yelled nasties at him and turned him down. Sirius had never been able to comprehend how James could love one girl for almost five years whilst barely looking at anyone else. In fact, Sirius understood little about love itself; to him, love was having a pretty girl on his arm to shag and show off. Despite his utter bewilderment at James' loyalty, Sirius could still empathise with his best friends pain.

"What if they've done her in Sirius?"

James had noticed Sirius staring him worriedly. Remus pulled his nose out of his book when he heard James; Lily was, after all, his fellow prefect. Both stared at him expectantly (Peter was still scribbling away). He felt a surge of irritation rush through him. Remus and James were as clever as he was, so why was it always up to Sirius to unravel the gang's problems?

"Prongs mate, She'll be fine," Sirius said. "Dumbledore wouldn't have let her go- wherever she's gone- if she wasn't safe."

"But what if-"

"Stop torturing yourself Prongs, Lily will be fine," Remus interrupted, patting James on the shoulder.

Though seemingly distracted, James did not mention Lily for the rest of the rest of the journey, and was considerably more light-hearted than he had been on boarding the scarlet steam train.  
They played Merlin knows how many games of Exploding Snap and Wizarding Chess over the next several hours, before the train began slowing down. The emerald green fields of the countryside were being replaced by brick buildings and Muggle shopping centres. When Remus suggested it was time to change into their much less conspicuous Muggle clothing, Sirius gave a deep groan of misery.

Exiting the train meant entering the dark, corrupted world the Black family lived in. He couldn't bare the fact that if Evans really had been attacked, members of his family had probably been the ones to cast the final blow. Would his friend ever look at his in the same way again if they realised the full extent of his parent's evilness?

"You three _have _to write to me this summer! Swear?" Sirius demanded, as a haughty, dark-haired woman, stoof next to Regulus five metersaway, glaring daggers at the Marauders.

"Sure thing Padfoot but, er…" Said Remus, craning his head around to get a clear view of Walburga Black, "Your Mum's starting to look murderous"

After the four boys promised they'd keep in touch with each other, Sirius rushed over to his brother and mother, who now looked thoroughly irritated.

"I see you still haven't dumped those friends of yours" She sniffed.  
"Good to see you too Mum…" Sirius muttered under his breath.  
His mother sneered down at her eldest son, before sweeping from the platform out of Kings Cross station, beckoning Regulus and Sirius to follow in her wake.

Sirius wished they didn't have to walk back to Grimmauld Place, for it was almost three miles away, but he knew his mother would use no other means of travel. Although she much too proud and vain to admit it, Walburga Black had never managed to pass her apparition exam and she point-blank refused to take the Knight Bus, it being much too similar to the traditional Muggle transport for her tastes.

Sirius did find some interesting sights to entertain his young mind during the solid hour of walking through the sinfully mundane streets and seedy alleys. He wolf-whistled at two girls in their late teens wearing straw hats, flared jeans and platform shoes, who tittered foolishly.

Walburga waited for the girls to pass them before she swatted Sirius around head roughly with her hand.

"Stop conversing with those filthy Muggle creatures!" She hissed.

Sirius smirked, turned behind him to survey one of the couples rather busty, curvy figure, and said,  
"It's not conversing I'm interested in…"

Regulus gave Sirius a disgusted look, who threw a stone around the back of their mother at Regulus' head.

* * *

"And now, raise a glass, to my son, Regulus Black."

For the last hour and a half, Sirius had been gradually dozing off into his glass of Firewhisky whilst his father droned on and on about Regulus' pure-blood friends, Regulus' brilliant school marks, Regulus' perfect punctuality and attendance, and Regulus' clean detention record.

"And speaking of detentions," Orion said, raising his voice. He turned to an ancient writing desk in the corner of the room, pulled out one of the drawers and turned it upside down to empty its contents. Dozens and dozens of ivory envelopes all with a red wax seal fell out of the drawer. Sirius smirked, remembering the competition himself and James had started last September over who could gain the most detntions by the time they graduated; so far, Sirius was in the lead, 123-131. McGonagall had started informing their parents after about two dozen detentions.

"It's not funny!" Orion bellowed, spraying spit over Sirius, "You are a disgrace to the family! Consorting with blood-traitors, mudbloods and Muggle lovers. After all your mother and I have done for you!"

Sirius gave an unambiguous snort of disbelief.

"Oh yes. You may not think so, but we've been more accommodating than most parents would be in our position, especially considering those disgusting posters of Muggle girls you have pinned up all over your walls!"

Regulus was gazing wide-eyed and terrified at his father; Walburga was stood behind her husband, feeling no maternal instincts for her first-born.

"Why are you such a disappointment? Why can't you be more like Regulus?"

"I'd rather be a disappointment than a stupid loser like him!"

The tension in the air ran through the silence. No-one, not even Walburga talked back to Orion. Face transforming from pale white to deep magenta in a matter of seconds, Orion threw furious punches at Sirius, who keeled over on contact. The throbbing in his right temple was pain of which he had never experienced. Twirling his tongue around his mouth, he realized two teeth were missing and a third was cracked.  
Stumbling backward, he galloped up the staircase to his bedroom where his trunk still lay unpacked on his bed.  
Sirius had had enough. For as long as he could remember he had been used as his father's personal punching bag. Regulus was the only reason he had stayed this long. However, he was now sure Orion wouldn't hurt Saint Regulus, so he was free to move on. He hauled his school trunk out of the door and down the stairs, as soundlessly as possible.

As soon as the steps to 12 Grimmauld Place had disappeared, Sirius raced away as swiftly as possible, laden down with his entire luggage. Three streets away, Sirius finally collapsed onto the pavement outside a set of flats with boarded up windows.

Panting, he began to contemplate his predicament. Ruler of Hogwarts though he was (or thought he was) he had no authority over anyone in the Muggle world. A group of young kids were throwing bricks at the streets run-down houses, so the please-men (whatever the Muggles called their version of Aurors) would be turning up soon. Sirius didn't know how to explain away a wand, several animated photographs, and a trunk full to the brim with magic books. Besides, they would ask where he lived. No Muggle had ever known there was a 12 Grimmauld Place; if Sirius told them and they took him back, they would all be massacred.

Returning was no option, not now. Very soon his parents would discover his empty bed and realize what had happened. Where ould he go? Almost all of his other relatives had the same views as his parents and he didn't want to put the only few decent members of the Black family at risk.

Abrupt, the answer came to him. Indeed, it was so blatantly obvious Sirius wondered why it had not appeared earlier. He would go to the Potters! It wasn't as if he'd be turning up with no warning; James and his parents had always said that if there was ever any major trouble at home, he was to turn to them.  
Sirius lifted himself off the concrete and stuck out his wand arm. Instantly, a startlingly bright, purple, triple-decker bus bounded around the corner, almost flattening a stray tabby cat.

As soon as the bus braked directly in front of Sirius (who was gaping stunned at it for he had not expected to appear so rapidly) a witch only three or four years older than him draped in purple robes jumped out. She spoke in a thick, Yorkshire accent.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Please step on board, and we will take you to your desired destination."

After giving the conductor the necessary nine sickles to the Potter's, he dumped himself on a bed in the middle of the bus.

"Sirius?"

A heavily pregnant woman was leaning against the headboard of a bed at the very bsck; a thin, blue eyed, red-haired man sat on the floor in front of his wife's bed, playing with a pair of equally ginger boys. They were beckoning him to join them.

"Molly, is that you? I haven't seen you in years!"

He wasn't exaggerating. Molly Prewett (now Weasley) was Sirius' blood-traitor, sort-of cousin and Sirius had never wanted Sirius to mix with that sort of person.  
Picking up his luggage, he leaped over several beds toward the family. Arthur Weasley pushed himself up to shake Sirius' hand thr best he could whilst clinging to the bed knob.

"So where are you off to?"

"I…well I…" Sirius began, "Godric's Hollow. I've got a mate that lives there."

The next ten minutes of the journey were extremely enjoyable. Although he would never admit it, he loved young kids; the way they were so blissfully ignorant of all the horrors the world possessed made him want to protect them from growing up forever. He spent the rest of the journey making two toy dragons fight each other to entertain Charlie whilst Bill (the oldest at five) flicked hot chocolate at the windows when he thought no one was watching.

The belongings of the various passengers of the Knight Bus were thrown forward as it ground to a halt on the Green of Godric's Hollow. After saying his farewell to the Weasleys, Sirius jumped off the bus and made his way toward the home of the Potters. Finally, he saw the familiar Tudor mansion with the huge front garden decorated with battered bird-feeder and lopsided windmills James had made in his childhood. He walked across the freshly cut grass, rapped hard on the door with the brass doorknocker and took a step backward. Next second, the door was flung open to reveal James Potter in nothing but a pair of striped pyjama bottoms.

"Can I stay?" Sirius beseeched.

James knew how desperate his best friend must have been to sound so pitiful. Opening the door wider, he put his hand around Sirius' shoulders and pulled him into the warmth.

* * *

**Well there we have it, the fourth chapter. It's longer than previous chapters, but I hope you still enjoyed it. Please leave your reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Over two months had passed since Sirius had turned up homeless in Godric's Hollow. Three hundred miles away, Mary McDonald was throwing books and robes haphazardly into her battered second-hand trunk.

"Hurry up Mary!" A voice carried up the narrow staircase.

"Coming!" She yelled back in her soft Geordie accent.

Two minutes later Mary was loading her trunk and owl into the back of a white transit van, with the help of seventeen year old Samantha Hare.

"I borrowed it from my Uncle Johnny," She whispered lightly in Mary's ear, "I thought we could use some time alone together"

Mary grinned and squeezed Samantha's hand discreetly.

"Have a good year," her father said thickly as he gave her a tight hug, "and thank you so much for taking her Samantha, you've been such a good friend to her"

Mary suppressed a grin at her Father's ignorance; if only he knew just how good a 'friend' Samantha really was.

Once they were buckled into the front of the van, and were sure that they were out of sight of their families, Samantha put her free arm around Mary and she rested her head on Samantha's shoulder.

At the end of May, Samantha had travelled all the way up to Scotland to meet Mary in Elmsburgh, the nearest Muggle town to Hogwarts, where Samantha had announced to a pub full of people that she loved Mary and would do anything to date her. Until they had broken up for the summer holidays Mary had been spending late nights in the library writing to her and they had spent almost every moment of the summer holidays together.

"I'm so proud of you"

"Huh?"

"Getting a scholarship to this elite boarding school…what's it called again?"

"Er…St Bernadette's"

Mary felt extremely guilty. Samantha was one of the best things in her life; she despised lying to her, but what choice did she have? The International Statue of Secrecy was drummed into Witches and Wizards since before they even entered Hogwarts. Besides, Samantha was an extremely level-headed girl; she probably wouldn't even believe Mary if she did tell her the truth, or at the very least think she'd gone loopy.

Samantha, ever the protective sod, would not allow Mary to carry her backbreakingly heavy trunk, but instead hauled it onto a luggage trolley and pushed it herself. They made their way to the barrier separating platforms nine and ten.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wave you off?" Samantha asked, looking straight into Mary's amber eyes.

"Don't be daft; I can catch a train by myself," Mary chuckled, "Anyway, you've got that work for college to finish"

Mary moved to give Samantha a peck on the cheek (many eyes were watching, and she never liked to be the centre of attention) but Samantha moved her lips to meet Mary's, and she was pulled into a breathtakingly passionate kiss. Their lips never parted for ten minutes; they would have gone on for longer, but Mary heard that cocky, arrogant snigger she hated so much.

"Put her down Drippy, we don't want any more attacks now do we?" came the voice of Sirius Black, obviously referring to the ever increasing number of Death Eater attacks on anyone seen in the company of Muggles.

"You homophobic bastard" snarled Samantha, completely misunderstanding Sirius' meaning, although Mary didn't really blame her. When you have to hide your relationship from your own family, you begin to get extremely paranoid.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, as if he was above such things as arguing with Muggles. Mary hadn't noticed before, but James Potter was gaping at her as if seeing her in a whole new light, utterly gobsmacked.

"Close your mouth kid, or you'll catch flies" Samantha said, turning to James.

James looked even more confused, not understanding Muggle expressions.

"I think you'd better go," Mary warned. She was desperate for a fight not to break out; however skilled with her fists Samantha may be, Mary was certain she could not beat Sirius or James. They would show no mercy for her, Muggle or not.  
Samantha kissed Mary delicately on the forehead and stalked back to her van. Sirius' eyes gleamed with a mischievous glint.

"Don't start Black" Mary muttered with a sigh, before running at the barrier in full pelt.

Pushing herself through the overcrowded corridor, Mary searched desperately for her friends, especially Lily, whom she was particularly worried about. Lily had sent Mary a note informing her that she was safe and would be returning to Hogwarts on September 1st, but she had not dared put down any more information for fear of the Death Eaters intercepting it. As she passed the next carriage, she caught a flash of dark red hair; Mary pulled open the door to the carriage and sank into the nearest empty space.

"Hey Mary," Lily muttered weakly. She had the peaky look of a girl that had suffered a great loss in a short amount of time.

"What's wrong Lils? Has something happened?"

Lily didn't speak, so Michelle answered for her.

"It's her umm… it's her Mum and Dad. Their… their dead"

Over the next half hour or so, Mary was told the tale, sometimes by Lily but mostly by Michelle when Lily's tears threatened to cascade over.

A couple of days before OWLs week, George and Marie Evans had taken a flight out to Australia for a wedding of an old family friend, but had never arrived there. Unbeknown why to the Muggles (but perfectly obvious to the Ministry of Magic) the pilots of the aeroplane had died instantly in mid-air. The plane had crashed into Ayers Rock, leaving no survivors. Ever since she had been taken out of school at the end of June Lily had been staying in a Children's Home, whilst Petunia, her cow of a sister, was living somewhere in Surrey with her new husband; she wouldn't even tell Lily where.  
Mary was left speechless. Obviously she knew they were in the middle a war, but it had never really hit home how serious things could get whilst in the sanctuary of Hogwarts or isolated in the Muggle world.

When the witch that pushed the trolley trundled along, they were all thankful for the break in tension. Before they could even empty their money bags however, Potter, Lupin, Black and an out of breath Pettigrew cascaded into the corridor. They were halfway through buying what looked like the entire contents of the cart before they had realised whose compartment they had stopped outside of. Batting her eyelids when she saw Black, Annabelle undid a few buttons of her tight fitting blouse and dabbed at her face with her powder brush. Sirius, however, was utterly ignoring Annabelle; he was looking at Mary, mouth curling at the thought of causing havoc.

James winked at Lily, "Alright Evans"

Simultaneously, the girls glowered at him and he took a step back. How could he be so insensitive when Lily was in such obvious distress? But something had changed in James' demeanour once he had seen Lily's tears. In fact, he looked ready to cry himself.

"So Mary, how long have you two been going out?" Sirius said finally with an air of fake innocence. When everyone except Mary, James and himself looked flabbergasted, he said to them, "Didn't you know? Mary's got a girlfriend."

And with that Sirius departed with his three friends, leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

"What did he mean by 'girlfriend?" Annabelle asked slowly.

"I- er…" Mary gulped. Words could not describe how much she loathed Sirius bloody Black.

"Mary" Michelle said "Are you-"

The end of her sentence, however, was cut off by Laura.

"Gay? Of course she is" She said as if it was entirely obvious, "Well actually, if you want to be precise, she's bisexual, but still"

They all stared at her.

"I've known it for years! Don't tell me the thought's never crossed your minds"

Mary breathing was rapid now. The way she was saying it… she didn't sound disgusted like Mary thought she would.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lily asked, recovering from her grief long enough to sound offended.

"I thought you'd freak" Mary muttered, avoiding eye contact with any of them.

"Don't be thick, we're your best mates!"

They all nodded in agreement, though Annabelle did so hesitantly.

Mary couldn't believe how easily they had accepted her. The remainder of the journey was passed with the girl's usual pastime: gossiping. By the time they departed the train, they were laughing hysterically at each other's summer tales.

After riding the self- drawn carriages up to the Entrance Hall, narrowly avoiding a Dungbomb attack by Peeves, and sitting through the start-of-term feast, the five girls headed for their dormitory and collapsed on their beds fully clothed.

The next morning dawned bright and early, the sun streaming through the windows of Gryffindor tower. There was a soft pitter-patter of light rain on the glass window panes. Mary's eyes burst open just before sunrise. Peering around the dorm, she noticed that her friends (even Lily) were all fast asleep in their warm beds. Knowing she would never get back to sleep now, she walked to the bathroom. She stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to engulf her.  
Although looking forward to the first day back at school, she was still worried. Most teachers allowed their students to sit where they wanted, but some (like McGonagall) put the members of the rowdier crowd next to the ones who actually bothered to pay attention, which meant Mary was usually seated next to Sirius bloody Black; she was bullied badly enough without sitting next to _him._

After twenty minutes or so, Mary dried off with one of the fluffy towels from the airing cupboard and dressed in her freshly ironed uniform. Back in the dorm, Mary's friends had finally gotten up. They trotted down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Annabelle shortened her skirt when she saw Sirius and Mary and Lily rolled their eyes.

In double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws (their first lesson), McGonagall started the class by announcing how important their NEWTs are, just as she had done about the OWLs last year. She then (just as Mary had predicted) moved Sirius next to Mary. Potter was seated next to Lily, much to her disgust.  
Both Mary and Sirius leaned simultaneously over to peer at their two friends. However, whilst Mary was deeply sympathetic to Lily and her rotten luck, Sirius was grinning madly at James, waggling his eyebrows. When he saw Mary looking his smile changed to a sneer that made it clear he thought Mary no better than a piece of shit on the bottom of his shoe.

After an hour and a half of scribbling down notes and ignoring the broken quills Sirius was continually launching at her, she heard her name drift up from the back of the classroom, where Emmeline Vance and Florence Evergreen were huddled.

"She's a dyke?!" Florence yelled, loud enough for the entire room to hear.

Mary's face went magenta, and her blood ran cold. As soon as McGonagall freed them, she rushed out of the class so fast she knocked over her chair. Lily pushed James roughly out of the way and pursued after Mary. She found Mary one floor up, staring into space; she had bitten her thumb nail down to a stump. To Lily's relief, it didn't look like Mary had done what Lily had feared she would; it usually took an event like this to make her do it.

A lot of people admired Mary. Of course, she was bullied a lot; most found her interest in Muggle rock music and creative writing stupid, not to mention downright peculiar. But no matter how vile people were to her, she never cried, never got upset and never showed any sign of weakness or discomfort. At least, that's what they thought. But they hadn't sat through hours of trying to comfort Mary, and convincing her that damaging her body isn't the way to make things better. No matter what happened though, she refused to tell any teachers. Sometimes, Lily felt like cursing everyone who said a nasty thing to Mary into oblivion; if only they knew what Mary had been through.

"Come on Mary" Lily said, tugging at her arm, "We'll go somewhere more private"

The Prefects bathroom on the 5th floor was the best place for a private chat (even better than Charms class) due to the lock on the door and the fact that only 36 students (Quidditch captains, the Head Boy and Girl and obviously the Prefects) out of about 800 could get in, unless you told your friend the password or took them with you, which is what Lily did with Mary.

They sat on the edge of the swimming pool sized bathtub, Mary dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, and Lily with her arms around her.

"I don't think it's any big deal if everyone finds out. Not everyone'll be horrible to you like Vance and Evergreen; a lot of people won't even care."

Mary gave her a look of huge disbelief, "Have you even been at this school for the past five years? Ok, a lot of people won't bother me, but can you imagine what the majority of people will do when they find out I'm bi?"

"You'll be fine Mary, I promise" Lily soothed, "Hell will freeze over before we let skanks like Florence Evergreen get away with bad-mouthing you"

Now feeling a lot calmer, Mary linked arms with Lily, and they both walked off to Charms, break being almost over. Lily purposely took the back tables of every class that day for them all to sit at in order to keep Mary discreet as possible, safely away from the taunts of their classmates.

Apart from being given a few strange glances, nothing happened until that night's dinner. Mary had been laughing with Michelle, Lily and Laura over some photos they had taken in first year. She was also trying to finish a Care of Magical Creatures essay that was supposed to have been done over the Summer Holidays. Daniel Boot, the Ravenclaw seeker slid into the space next to Mary and snatched up the parchment.

"Honestly McDonald, you should really do your homework sooner. Still," He said, "What else can be expected? Not only are you a Mudblood, but you're a faggot as well"

Lily and Laura launched themselves at Daniel; as they did so, some goblets had been flung noisily off the table and there were a few curious onlookers. Before Mary and Laura could do any damage, Mary stopped them.

"Don't you dare, it'll only cause more trouble"

Mutters of 'dyke', 'queer' and 'fag' followed Mary around for days after the incident in the Great Hall. Whenever she sat next to a girl who wasn't one of her friends, they would pull their robes protectively around them and say, "Don't even think about trying it on with me, homo".  
The Slytherins loved it, for it was yet another excuse to give out mental torture to a filthy little Mudblood. Lily wanted to dock points from anyone who was nasty to Mary, but Mary stopped Lily doing so when she overheard a conversation between Caradoc Dearborn and another Hufflepuff,  
"She's so big headed, thinking she's important enough to have points docked just for her."

Transfiguration was even worse than usual. Sirius never said anything to her, but she could just tell he was privately mocking her to Potter and Pettigrew. Lupin, however, was one of the only people acting civilly around Mary which surprised her, what with him being part of Black's gang. When questioned of his behaviour by Pettigrew he said simply, "I'm not really in a position to judge, what with my furry little problem."

Mary no longer ate in the Great Hall, instead preferring to hide in her dorm. She wouldn't eat at all if her friends didn't take food up for her. All in all, Mary's first week of sixth year definitely made the top ten in the list of the world's worst weeks. Samantha had already sent a letter to Mary through her father, but Mary didn't want to worry Samantha by telling her how bad the bullying had gotten.

The following Monday, Mary could be seen lying atop her bed, thinking over the day's events, which had been just as torturous as the previous week's. The freshly cut slashes running up and down the insides of her arms stung from the wool of her thick jumper she was using to cover the wounds; the razor that Mary had taken from Annabelle was still next to, glistening with crimson blood. Her pillow was soaking wet after hours of noiselessly weeping.

All of a sudden, her eyes widened and she fell off her bed in panic. That evening, she had been sat by the fireplace, writing in her little blue diary… but the problem was, she hadn't brought it upstairs with her! Breathing heavily, she rushed down the stairs, praying that the Common Room was empty. But of course, the world wasn't going to start being kind to Mary after the time she'd been having lately; Sirius Black was hunched up in an armchair, frowning angrily at a long letter in his hands. His tie was slung over the arm of the chair and a couple of the buttons of his school shirt were undone. Mary thanked Merlin when she saw her diary stuck between two couch cushions.

After taking her diary and stuffing it into the back pocket of her jeans, she turned to go back up to the dorm. Halfway up the stairs, Mary heard Sirius' voice from behind her, so filled with fury it was shaking.

"Why does she hate him so much?"

When Mary turned back around, Sirius was stood up with the letter crumpled furiously in his hand, knuckles white from how tightly his fists were clenched.

"Why does _who _hate _who?"_

"Evans. Why does she hate James?"

Mary would have ignored Sirius and made her way back upstairs, but something about the way he said that last sentence (almost accusingly, as if its Lily's fault that James' an immature dimwit) made Mary's Gryffindor fury come out in all it's glory.

"It's more the fact that he exists" She snapped, referring back to what James said to Lily after she questioned him about his hatred toward Snape, "Besides, what do you expect when he acts like the world's biggest prat around her?"

If Sirius had been calmer, he may have cringed at the reminder of his best friend's words; his head, however was clouded over with fury, so would not think rationally.

"Fuck off Drippy, and stop being a bitch" Sirius snarled.

Mary, her newfound confidence shaken slightly from the use of her cruel nickname snorted, "_I'm_ a bitch?! At least _I _don't hex random students just because I'm bored!"

"No, you just perv on them instead!" retorted Sirius.

An imaginary string inside of Mary seemed to snap; she had had enough of being bullied for something she couldn't help over the past week. Now almost as angry as Sirius, she whipped out her wand, pointed it at him and muttered "Locomotor Wibbly"; his legs immediately on collapsed, and he fell to the floor.

_Oh crap! _thought Mary as she stared down at Sirius_, _who was staring daggers at her.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Sirius shouted indignantly.

"I'm so sorry Sirius, I didn't mean too! I just... lost control..." Mary stuttered, cursing herself for letting her temper get the better of her. "Here, I'll take it off."

She muttered the counter-curse, and Sirius' legs became unparalyzed. Before Mary even had time to blink, Sirius had raised his wand and started to mutter a hex.

"What on earth are they?"

When Mary had lifted her arms in order to protect herself from Sirius' hex, the sleeves of her jumper had slid down, exposing the fresh cuts on her arms, which Sirius saw. Mary stumbled backward into the wall, Sirius advancing on her.

"It's...it's none of your business." She said as forcefully as possible, though she was fearful of Sirius' hot-headedness.

"None of my business?! Tell me Drippy!"

"DON'T CALL ME DRIPPY!" Mary was shouting now. and her wand was pointed at Sirius again, who mirrored her. She was on the verge of uttering an incantation when Arkie Alderton, the Head Boy marched through the portrait hole from patrol, looking livid.

"What in Merlin's name is going on in here?" Arkie exclaimed, "Keep it down or you can go to your rooms and stay their"

Arkie waited until Sirius and Mary had grudgingly stowed their wand away and sat in tense on either end of the sofa, before exiting through the portrait hole to complete his rounds. The pair fumed quietly to themselves, their dislike for each other that had developed over the years mingling with their desire to defend their friends.

"The least she could do is be civil to him" said Sirius, his thoughts spurting out in a rush.

"Wha- oh, Lily," Mary said, barely masking her irritation, "Look, don't go mental again, but will you please tell James to leave her alone? She cant handle him harassing her right now"

Sirius frowned,"Why right now? What's changed?"

"There's been some...business with her parents" Mary answered hesitantly.

Sirius snorted and said in a voice that dripped with sarcasm, "What's did they do? Take away her pocket money?"

"No" Mary snarled, "Their dead"

"Their...wait, what?!"

Briefly, Mary explained the story to Sirius, whilst he listened intently.

"Looks like everyone's having family problems 'round here..." He muttered once Mary had finished explaining.

"Eh?"

Sirius looked directly at Mary, who was shocked to see bitterness in easy-going Sirius Black's eyes.

"I've just gotten a letter from my dear father" He said in a resentful tone, "In a nutshell, it says that if I don't come home for the Christmas holidays and go to the James' like I usually do, I'll be blasted off the family tree."

"You mean-you mean they'll disown you?

"Yep. I'll be on my own." His voice did not carry any self-pity.

"Merlin, Sirius I'm-well, I cant say I'm surprised, but I _am_ sorry"

"You me both"

As Mary watched Sirius out of the corner of her eye, she began to see the new side of him. Underneath his careless and flirtatious manner, Sirius was just as messed up as Mary; maybe even more.

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**Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own anything.**

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**Chapter Six**

"Your time is up!" Announced the bald man with the protruding stomach to his sixth year potions class.

Horace Slughorn waited for the class to lay down their utensils before squeezing his way through the desks to examine the different variations (most of them incorrect) of the _Draught of Living Death._

Lily stood behind her desk next to Sirius, tapping her foot impatiently, desperate for Slughorn to approve her potion.  
Whilst peering into Sirius' potion, which was bright blue and emitting pink smoke, he muttered about it being a 'nice try'. Lily smirked smugly, but Mary gave Sirius a sympathetic look. Actually, Mary had been acting a lot more warmly toward Sirius in the last couple of days.

"Perfect as always, Miss Evans." Slughorn commented as he gazed at the clear contents of Lily's cauldron. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

After examining everyone's potions, Slughorn sank into the chair behind his desk.

"For those of you who are part of my Slug Club," Slughorn said, as if it was anyone's choice but his who would be involved in the preferential club, "Our first meeting of the year will be tomorrow evening at seven. I hope to see you all there."

As soon as Slughorn had mentioned when the meeting would take place, Lily noticed Black turn his head so swiftly in Potter's direction he cricked his neck. Rubbing it, he gave Potter a significant look, who was staring at Slughorn in sheer panic. Observing around her, she saw that Lupin (who looked even more tired and weary) was giving James the exact same look. This struck Lily as odd; most students found Slughorn's frequent dinner parties more of a chore than anything else, so she couldn't understand why they were annoyed that they hadn't gained invites too, if that was really what the matter was. But then she shook her head to clear her brain. Why should she care what Potter and his gang got up to?

* * *

"You have to get out of it Prongs!"

At the very back of the Charms classroom, James and Sirius were talking alone in hushed tones (Remus and Peter had both dropped Charms that year, so were enjoying a free period). One of the pair would duck occasionally so as to avoid a jet of water, because they were learning _aguamenti, _the water-making spell. It was only ten minutes into the lesson, and half the class were already dripping wet.

"Look, I'll try, but you know what Slughorn's like. He'll know if I've lied, so I have to think of a genuine reason." James said exasperatingly.

"You better rack you're brains then, 'cause Moony needs us tomorrow" Sirius hissed, "And don't you dare ditch just so you can get closer to Evans."

James, whose eyes had been closed as he tried to think of a good enough excuse reason to give Slughorn, opened them again furiously.

"I wouldn't ditch Moony for some girl!" He exclaimed.

"That's all very well, but Lily isn't just 'some girl' to you is she?"

James didn't reply, but couldn't quite bring himself to be angry. Sirius, after all, had good reason to be concerned; James was well-known for opting out of lessons to do nice things for Lily, and he always looked forward to Slug Club meetings so he could try (and fail disastrously) to butter her up. No matter what though, nothing came before his Marauders.

* * *

Lily ran through the dungeons the following evening in glitzy high-heeled sandals, flattening her frilly, low-cut dress as she did so. Turning a sharp corner, her face was almost flattened as she smashed into the wall next to Slughorn's office door. After calming her breathing, she pushed open the door.

A rectangular table was placed in the middle of the enlarged office. Sat at the head of the table was Professor Slughorn. To his right were two first years Lily didn't know the names of, two second years by the names of Eldred Warple and Ciceron Harkiss. Also on that side of the table were third years Bartemius Crouch and Adrian Abbot. Lily groaned when she saw who sat on Slughorn's left; Frank Longbottom was gradually nodding off into his starter of tomato soup, occasionally stirring when Slughorn asked him questions about his aspirations to be an auror. Next to him was James, followed by an empty space. Then came Barnabus Cuffe, who was jotting down notes in his journal, and at the very end of the table Regulus Black. Lily groaned again; the spare seat between James and Barnabus was the _only _spare seat.

"Sorry I'm late Sir." she uttered before swiftly taking her place.

"Not to worry Miss Evans, you're here now." He boomed and started an animated discussion with Barty about his father's work at the Ministry.

Once everyone had turned their attentions back to their own conversations, Barnabus turned to Lily, looking her up and down.

"How come you were late Evans," he said, smirking in a self-satisfied sort of way, "were you distracted by your dreams of me?"

"Mate, I don't even know you," Lily replied without even bothering to look at him, tucking into her soup.

"You could get to know me," He said as his hand rested on the top of her spine and slid further and further down her back...

Lily spurted soup all over the table in shock. James growled menacingly.

"Get your filthy hands off her, Cuffe"

"Make me!"

"Never mind him, I'll make you!" Lily hissed, elbowing him hard in the ribs so that he clutched his side in pain.

Lily felt James pull his wand out of the pocket of his dress robes. She made to slap him on the leg under the table to stop him doing anything rash, but he caught hold of her hand with his right. He ran his fingers up and down her arm caressingly with his left hand. She pulled desperately, but he would not let her go.

"Just go on a date with me Evans, you could do worse"

"Get off me Potter!" She moaned. If Barnabus saw what was going on, it would all over the _Hogwarts Star_ (the school newspaper) that James Potter and Lily Evans were star-crossed lovers destined to be together, or some other crap like that.  
James seemed to be thinking along the same wavelength as her. Although he wouldn't care at all if his love life was travelling around school, he couldn't embarrass Lily like that.

The next two hours passed excruciatingly slowly. Basically every member of the Slug Club hated another, so the awkward stabs at conversation were torture at best. Eventually however, Slughorn checked his wristwatch and gasped dramatically.

"Goodness me, it's nearly ten already. Off you all pop or Filch will have us all in detention," He chuckled contently, unaware of the round of relief passing over the students at his words.

They all rose from their seats (James did so a little too quickly, as if he had a pressing engagement elsewhere.) Only half of the kids remained when a noise rattled through the dungeon: a low, blood-curdling wolf's howl full of menace.

James' face went pale, and a droplet of sweat formed on his brow. He rushed to the door, knocking over one of the first years in his haste. Before he could make it though, a faint but clear cry of pain engulfed them.


	7. Chapter 7

**I own nothing. I'm the monkey, J.K is the organ grinder.**

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**Chapter Seven**

Remus lay immobile in the hospital bed he had occupied so many times over the years, the mattress had moulded itself into his exact body shape. James and Peter were in peaceful sleep beside him in the visitor's chairs. Daisy Hookum slept in a bed a the end of the ward, two huge claw-shaped cuts on her chest were bandaged with cloth that was smoking with some kind of disinfectant.

Sirius stood outside the Hospital Wing, kicking the wall to release some of the anger that was still bubbling inside of him from the night before...

_Bright and glowing, the full moon stood out in the dark, dusky night sky. Chasing after each other across the damp Quidditch pitch were three animals: a fat, mousy-brown rat, a huge, shaggy, black dog and a wolf with a long snout and tufted tail.  
Suddenly, the wolf tensed. It's head jerked in the direction of the Hufflepuff stands and he sped toward them at an alarming pace. The dog smashed himself into the wolf., but it threw the dog aside and continued towards the seats._

_A boy and girl sat together at the top of the stands. They hadn't noticed the deathly danger they were in; they were too busy enjoying each other's company. A second later, the girl burst into gales of joyous laughter, but it quickly turned to an ear-splitting scream of terror, loud enough to wake the dead when she saw the wolf sprinting at her, a wild look in it's eyes. It jumped onto one of the of the seats and started tearing it's way towards the pair._

_Back on the pitch the dog hesitated for a millisecond, as if it was worried it would hurt the wolf if it stepped in, before transforming back into Sirius Black._

_"Go get help Wormtail," he bellowed, turning to face the rat, "NOW!"_

_The rat scurried back up to the castle. Sirius, with his wand now out, launched himself after the wolf, and yelled:_

_"Moony, stop!"_

_Whilst the wolf was distracted by Sirius' voice, the girl took the chance to scurry away, but the wolf heard her. It turned back to her and slashed it's claws madly, causing two huge gashes to appear on her chest. The boy screamed, grabbed the girl and jumped down from the stands and onto the pitch. As the moonlight bounced off their terrified faces, Sirius saw that the boy and girl were a pair of Hufflepuffs by the names of Tilden Toots and Daisy Hookum. When the wolf got ready to attack again, Sirius raised his wand and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus."_

Back inside the Hospital Wing, the three boys were just starting to wake up. Remus stirred first with a splitting headache. James and Peter soon followed suit. When Remus smiled at them wearily, they, for some reason, exchanged guilty looks, before grinning back. Remus now noticed that Sirius wasn't present, which was odd as he usually barely ever left Remus' side during his monthly trips the ward.

"Where's Padfoot?" He asked.

Right on cue, Sirius stormed in.

"Can we talk outside Prongs?" He asked. His voice sounded like he was forcing it to be calm, and a furious fire of anger raged in his eyes, which filled Remus with the deep desire to back away a couple of hundred metres.

James seemed to have noticed the warning signs too. He got up reluctantly, and walked up the Hospital Wing and out of the doors. Sirius slammed the doors shut and turned on James.

"You better have a good explanation for last night."

Most would have no clue what Sirius was banging on about, but James had been friends with him for so long sometimes thought he could read his mind.

"It's not my fault _you _didn't control Moony properly!" He half-yelled.

"Not your fault?!" Sirius bellowed twice as loud as James, "You know as well as I do that it takes all three of us to control Remus on a full moon!"

"If you're going to start on anyone, start on Slughorn; he's the one who made me go to the god damn meeting in the first place."

Sirius took a threatening step towards James, who did the same.

"I've been thinking," Sirius said, "I know you said you tried to get out of the Slug Club, but maybe you just didn't try hard enough."

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" James shrieked, causing a passing first year to yelp and run off in the opposite direction. James took another step towards Sirius and Sirius laughed as if to say, _bring it on then!_

Wands abandoned, they launched at each other. Their arms flayed about madly, trying to make contact with anywhere that could be maimed. At one point, Sirius was sure he heard a loud crack that made it clear something had been broken and hot, sickly blood gushed over their robes

Suddenly, the boys were thrown apart by the force of a Shielding Charm. Madam Pomfrey stood by the open doors of the Hospital Wing, her wand raised and her face furious.

"Never," She hissed, "in all my life have I seen such a disgusting display of Muggle duelling. What was that all about?"

Sirius lifted himself off of the floor, muttered a quiet, "Doesn't matter," and stalked off.

James, still breathing heavily, asked, "Can I go back in?"

"Five minutes and then you leave."

* * *

James was still being reminded of his bitterness by his nose, which was sore despite the fact that Madam Pomfrey had fixed it in a heartbeat, but Remus had insisted that he should make things right with Sirius and he privately agreed.

The Marauders had hoped that it would take Sirius only the morning's lessons to stop should have known better.

After three lessons, Sirius' fury had still not subsided. At lunch he walked straight past James and Potter to where Mary, Lily, Michelle, Annabelle and Laura were sat.

"Mind if I join you ladies?" He didn't bother to wait for an answer before taking a seat next to Mary and opposite Lily.

Mary had looked up from her Care of Magical Creatures notes when she heard Sirius Black's voice and frowned for a millisecond before flattening her expression.

It wasn't just the unusual sight of Sirius without either Lupin, Pettigrew or Potter that made her frown; ever since that night three days ago when Sirius had seen her scars she hadn't been picked on by anyone really. Not only that, but when one of her usual tormentors, Martin Stebbins, had knocked accidently into her and caused her to drop her vial of Shrinking Solution in Potions the other day, he had cast a terrified look over at Sirius (who was sat at the next desk), apologized profusely and offered to give her his potion instead (she had, of course, refused).

Part of her thought Sirius could be the reason the others weren't bothering her, but the reasonable part of her knew the infamous Sirius Black wouldn't stick up for her after all his years of bullying; it was nothing short of a miracle, she thought, that he hadn't turned her self-harm against her. Still, he had been acting a lot warmer towards her recently...

The feeling of eyes on her brought her back to the present. She caught Michelle, Laura and Lily's eyes latched on her face for a moment, before all three pairs travelled to Sirius in a way that looked like they was contemplating how best he would look beheaded.

Sirius slouched onto the bench with casual elegance. Mary didn't know how Sirius could be so calm; if three hormone-driven, over-dramatic, pissed off teenage girls had been looking at her like that she would have escaped via the nearest window.

Annabelle scooted along the bench so that she was practically sitting in Sirius' lap, which irritated Mary somewhat.

_Honestly_, she thought,_ she couldn't be any more desperate if she tried._

"For Merlin's sake Sirius, would you stop being a stubborn git and get back over here!" James suddenly yelled, his voice carrying up the Gryffindor table and through most of the Great Hall.

"I cant wait for the next Hogsmeade trip, can you lot?," Sirius shouted twice as loudly, as if trying to blank James out of existence.

After a while, James and Peter gave up on trying to get Sirius to talk to them and left.

"Pass the salt Annabelle." Sirius asked after dragging a plate of chips towards him.

Annabelle picked up the saltshaker and passed it across the table, purposely and obviously rubbing her hand against Sirius'.

"What's happened between you and the Marauders?" Annabelle asked in a honey sweet tone, batting her long dark eyelashes, "It's not like you to fall out."

Sirius ignored her attempts at flirting, and snapped at her, "How do you know we're called the Marauders?"

Annabelle half-smiled, "You'd be surprised at what I know."

"What else of my business have you heard?"

"That's for me to know and you to merely wonder at."

Annabelle was grinning like a madman, as if her and Sirius were sharing some sort of mystical connection. He looked slightly sick.

"Sirius, are you ok?" Mary asked. Her genuine tone of concern surprised even herself.

"Yeah, I've um... gotta go. See you girls later."

He winked at Mary, ignored the others and stalked out of the Great Hall.

"What was that all about?"

* * *

Over the next month, things did not improve. After their short but memorable argument in the Great Hall, the whole school seemed to have heard of the James Potter-Sirius Black feud. No one except the Marauders knew the real reason for the fall out so tall tales started to spring up all over the place.

The rumours went from Sirius calling James' mother a pox ridden wench to James casting the Banishing Charm on Sirius so that he fell out of a window in Gryffindor Tower (Luckily, there was a strategically placed Hippogriff directly underneath him which flew him to the safety of the merpeople, who nursed him back to full fitness.)

Sirius had taken to hanging around with Mary, which annoyed all of the Gryffindor girls except herself, who was thoroughly pleased to have conversations with Sirius that didn't end with her feeling crap about herself. Even Annabelle had started to get frustrated with Mary and Sirius' newfound friendship, because although it meant Sirius was around her more often, he usually blanked everyone but Mary.

Whenever Sirius visited Remus in the Hospital Wing at the same time as James, Remus would either cast a silencing and shielding charm on them or simply ask one of them to leave.

Peter was torn: he wanted to both put them in a room and force them to be friends again, and keep the peace at the same time, which wasn't exactly helpful, as the former plan would surely ruin the latter.

It wasn't the best month to be a Marauder. It was even worse than the time Peter got one of the spells to become an animagus wrong and had to walk around with a rats tail until they found the cure.

Soon enough, the full moon approached. Remus was desperately trying to get Sirius and James to not argue at the very least and they had agreed, although it could still be dangerous if they snapped at each other when they were supposed to be keeping Remus under control.

* * *

On the night of the full moon, James could be found by the fire in the Common Room. Remus had gone off to the Shrieking Shack 3/4 of an hour ago and James was waiting for Peter to come back from the kitchens before joining Remus.

Suddenly, just when he was about to give up and go to the Shrieking Shack on his own, the portrait hole few open and Peter literally fell out of it.

"Sirius...Snape...Remus..."Peter panted. His face was bright red as if he had been running. He took a huge gulp of breath. "Snape's gone to the Shrieking Shack

"He's WHAT?!" James shrieked.

He grabbed hold of Peter's arm and pulled him out of the portrait hole.

"Why's he gone there anyway?"

"er... I heard Sirius telling him when I was coming back from the kitchens."

James bellowed in frustration. He hated Snape just as much as Sirius, but he would never be sick enough to not only get Snape killed but to risk getting Moony expelled as well.

They ran through the corridors, out of the castle and down to the Whomping Willow. Sirius was sat on the lawn next to it, drinking a bottle of Firewhiskey and looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. The Whomping Willow was completely motionless and a twig lay next to the knot at the bottom of the tree.

"Glad you two could join me. Don't just stand there, pull up some grass." He raised the bottle of Firewhiskey and took another swig.

"Are you drunk?" James said in a disgusted tone.

"Course I'm not you prat, I've barely had any of it." Sirius said. "And you want to watch out Prongs. You're starting to sound like your one true love. It's terrifying."

"Where's Snape?"

Sirius took a while to answer but eventually he nodded toward the entrance of the tunnel.

"He's gone in."

James howled in anger, flung himself through the entrance and crawled through the tunnel. He went on for ages until he finally turned a corner and saw the greasy back of Snape's head. His thin hand was pushing aside a huge box.

"Oi, Snape!" James yelled. Snape turned to look at him, grinned triumphantly and moved the box away so that the entrance to the Shrieking Shack was open completely.

SMASH!

A chair was flung at the wall next to Snape and Remus in his fully-fledged werewolf form appeared in the doorway. Snape let out high scream. Remus lifted his huge, clawed paws, but James grabbed hold of the back of Snape's robes and pulled him away. He used his wand to lift the crate back into place and he and Snape crawled as quickly as possible back through the corridor and into the moonlight.

Snape stumbled backwards, pointing a finger accusingly at James, Sirius and Peter.

"You-you're harbouring a werewolf!" He yelled. "Just you wait 'til Dumbledore hears about this!" And with that he sped off up to the castle.

Peter made to go after him but James put his hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Leave him; we'll sort it out later." He turned to Sirius, "What in the name of Merlin's saggy bollocks gave you the idiocy to try and kill Snape."

"I-I'm sorry."

James and Peter blinked.  
"You're what now?" They said together.

"Don't make me say it again. Look, I've been a git this past month; I know you didn't go to Slughorn's party by choice."

James smiled and put his arms around Sirius and Peter's shoulders.

"Come on, we better get back up to the castle and wait for the aftermath."

They followed Snape's footsteps back up to the castle.

"I'll meet you in the Common Room in ten minutes," Sirius said when they reached the Entrance Hall. "I'm just going to the kitchens for something to eat."

He walked across the Hall and down the staircase that led to the ground floor. In the silence, his mind wandered back to one hour previously...

_He was wandering down the hallways after studying with Mary in the library (not that he could concentrate on anything when she was around).  
When Madam Pince had kicked them out of the library, Mary had suggested they continue in the Common Room, but Sirius had declined, telling her that he was meeting some girl (which made her eyes give away a hint of jealousy) instead of the truth about Moony. He was going to meet Peter and James by the Whomping Willow; he and James were still not on good terms, but they _had _swore to Moony that they'd try to be civil._

_As he strolled past the statue of the One-Eyed Witch, Snape popped out from behind it. Before Sirius could draw his wand to hex him (an automatic reaction by now) Snape had taken out his own wand and cast a Shield Charm between them._

_"What's wrong Snivellus?" Sirius jeered, "Too scared to fight me?"_

_"No. We've just got a lot to talk about." Snape said it calmly enough, but his hand was still gripped tightly on his wand._

_"We haven't got anything to talk about."_

_Sirius started to walk away until he heard Snape call after him: "It's about your crush on that Mudblood Mary."_

_Sirius turned back around and pointed his wand threateningly at Snape, even though he knew it was pointless._

_"Go crawl back into the hole you came from and die!"_

_Snape smirked, "Touched a nerve have I?"_

_"Look, what do you want Snivellus? Cause I've got more important things to do than argue with you."_

_Snape paused for a couple of moments, twirling his wand in his hands before answering in a smug tone,_

_"You might want to choose your girlfriends more carefully. Regulus is starting to get cranky."_

_"Regulus? What the hell have you got to do with my brother?!"_

_"Wouldn't you like to know." Snape said, his smirk widening into a smug grin._

_Sirius took a step toward Snape with his fist raised. Suddenly, he was thrown backwards and his head smacked hard against the stone floor. Snape laughed callously. He began to walk away, still tittering to himself._

_Sirius would have gotten up and beaten Snape to a pulp, but he knew the Shield Charm he had just crashed into made any effort to do so pointless. Instead, his mind quickly conjured up a plan to get rid of both Snape and the dangers he could put Regulus in._

_"Snape wait, please." Sirius said, rearranging his voice into a beseeching tone. "I've got a proposition for you"_

_Snape turned back around and glared suspiciously at him. He rolled his hand to say _go on.

_"If you leave my brother alone," Sirius said slowly, knowing it would keep Snape hanging. "I'll tell you where Remus goes every month."_

_Snape's eyes widened, and Sirius could tell that whatever he had been expecting this most certainly wasn't it. He saw the greed in Snape's eyes; he was stuck like a mouse in Devil's Snare._

Sirius' mind journeyed back to the present when a house elf carrying a tray of chocolate éclairs tapped him on the leg; he had subconsciously made his way into the kitchens without even realising it.

After eating as much as possible and stuffing his pockets with enough food to feed an army, he clambered back through the entrance. He walked up through the castle as quietly as he could. Cursing himself for forgetting not only the invisibility cloak but the Marauder's Map too, he turned a corner and saw...

Half a dozen shadowed figures were crowded together, all of them with their wands pointed at a shaking body strewn across the floor. All of a sudden the body turned to it's side, and Sirius saw the girl he so wished he hadn't.

The six silhouettes came closer and closer, their cold breath freezing her pale skin.

She was shaking violently, and a horrifying shriek was emitting from her mouth...

* * *

**Thanks so much for all the reviews, favourites and follows, it means a lot. **

**I just need to add that the last sentences of this chapter are copyright of my mate Alice, just in case she sues me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

Hours had passed since Sirius had found Mary. Weak morning sunlight was spreading itself throughout the Hospital Wing, whilst the sleepy voices of students heading down to breakfast leaked their way through chinks in the door. Sirius groaned; at this rate, he would be spending more time in the Hospital Wing than out.

Sounds from the night before still reverberated through his brain. Psychotic laughter, angry yells and whimpers of pain all chased each other around the stone walls. His feet were propped up on the bed to right where Mary lay unconscious. As he scanned the way her eyebrows creased at whatever she was dreaming about, or how her fingers ran automatically up and down the scars on her arms, Sirius felt the insane urge to hold her tight and never let go.

"No" Mary muttered "No, leave him alone! Get off him!"

"Mary" Sirius half-yelled, shaking her slightly "Wake up!"

Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, eyes wide open with terror. When she saw Sirius she fell back into her pillow, groaning. Squeezing her eyes together as if to stop threatening tears, she rubbed her fingers against her forehead to nurse a headache.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked.

She was about to answer, but she saw how much of her scarred skin had been revealed during the night, and hurried to cover her arms with her sleeves.

"What are you doing here, Black?"

"Charming that" Sirius snorted "I practically just saved your life"

Mary's frown deepened as her eyes flew open.

"That wasn't you; it was this big black do- oh…" She breathed "You're an Animagus"

He grinned in answer.

"That's brilliant" She commented before adding reluctantly "and thanks"

"Anytime"

After that, they sat in silence, Sirius watching Mary whilst she pretended she didn't know what he was doing.

"Why do you do that?" Sirius blurted out before he could stop himself, pointing to the slashes covering her arms.

"I-I don't…I can't…" Mary wanted to tell him, of course she did, but she didn't know how he would react. Mary couldn't bare it if he rejected her after he knew. However, Sirius' life had been pretty messed up too so maybe…

She took a deep steadying breath before she began, knowing she would need it.

"When I was little my Dad had this friend. Uncle Arthur. He wasn't blood related or anything, that's just what we called him. Anyway, one day he came to our house to get something he'd left there. We were alone; I can't even remember where everyone else was. I was in my room and he came in and he- she took another deep breath –"he raped me. Sometimes I get these flashbacks, and it helps me handle it."

Sirius gaped at Mary. She would not look at him.

_I should have seen this coming,_ she thought miserably, _now he'll tell his stupid little mates and everyone'll hate me._

The moisture in her eyes was starting to build up, but she would not allow herself to cry in front of Sirius Black.

"What happened then?"

Mary looked up again. Sirius, though looking like he was about to throw up any second, was staring resolutely at her as if determined for an answer. Mary knew he would not give up until he knew the full story.

"My brother happened. Tommy he was called. I was old enough to know that what Uncle Arthur did to me was wrong so I told Tommy. He was brilliant, always so brave. A couple of days later when Uncle Arthur came round again we...er…confronted him." Her voice was barely a whisper now "They got into a fight and Uncle Arthur… killed him."

She couldn't hold back her tears now. She hadn't ever told anyone the full story. When the they began to flood she sunk her face into her pillow and Sirius stroked her hair in a surprisingly gentle manner.

_He's just trying to be kind, _Mary thought, _as soon as he leaves he'll never talk to me again._

As Sirius stroked Mary's hair, he couldn't help but wonder how Mary managed to keep control. He was often prone to random outbursts of anger due his father's violent behaviour but he considered what happened to Mary a lot worse. He'd read about that kind of stuff happening from Remus' copies of the Daily Prophet, but had it never seemed real until now. And for it to happen to someone he knew, someone he cared about-well, the thought made his skin crawl.

"Mary?" Sirius asked as tenderly as possible.

She lifted her head out of the pillow and gazed at him through puffy red eyes. She nodded her head slightly as an indicator for Sirius to carry on.

"Did you call the police and get him arrested, or did you just keep it to yourself?" He asked, both wanting and not wanting the answer at the same time.

"My Mum. She always had, er...anger issues. And she killed the bastard and got sent to prison for."

"Prison!" Sirius said, sounding completely horrified.

Mary shrugged. "It's not too bad. Muggle prisons are a lot nicer than Askaban and at least I get to see her once a week in the holidays."

Suddenly, Professor Dumbledore burst through the double doors, followed by the ever stern Professor McGonagall. Sirius started to get up and go towards him, but Mary pulled him back by his arm, her nails digging into him in her desperation.

"Don't tell them about Uncle Barry," She whispered urgently. "Or any of the other stuff."

"But Mary, everyone should know! If they did then they might stop being dicks to you."

"Please, I don't want pity. It's my business and I want to keep it that way."

Sirius got up but she pulled him back into his seat again. She looked into his stormy grey eyes with a pleading look in her own, and Sirius couldn't help but melt.

"Oh, all right then, I won't tell anyone." Sighed Sirius.

Mary was still suspicious, "You swear?" She acquired.

Sirius stuck out the little finger of his right hand and smiled.  
"Pinky swear."

Although weakly, she smiled back and wrung her little finger with his.  
"Cheers Sirius, you're a better mate than I thought you be."

Sirius shrugged, "I do try."

McGonagall, Dumbledore and Pomfrey, who had just finished a brisk conversation with each other, converged at the end of Mary's bed. Pomfrey glared at Sirius, and Mary pushed his feet off the bed.

He leaned over to Mary and whispered into her ear, "It _is _all right If they about last night, isn't it?"

Mary hesitated, then nodded. Sirius could see it was going to be hard for her to talk about it, so he gripped her hand and squeezed it. She tensed for a moment before relaxing. He moved onto the bed next to her and released his grip on her hand to put his arm around her, pulling her into his chest.

"Miss McDonald," Dumbledore said. A fire of fury, which had been burning in his piercing blue eyes just a few seconds ago lessened when he saw Sirius and Mary. "How are you feeling?"

"OK I guess," She answered him firmly enough, but she was shaking with nerves and her arms were covered in goosebumps. "Can I go to my classes today, Sir?"

Madam Pomfrey answered for him, ""Absolutely not," She snapped. "You can leave tomorrow at the very least."

Mary groaned, "But I'll fall behi-"

"I'm sure Mr Black and Miss Evans will be perfectly happy to bring you any homework you may miss." McGonagall butted in. She turned on Sirius. "Won't you, Black?"

"Er...sure." He shrugged, although he wasn't sure how he was supposed to remember to bring Mary homework when he didn't even bother to remember his own.

"If you feel up to it, I would like you to recount last nights events." Dumbledore said kindly. "Madam Pomfrey had informed us that a group of students put some sort of curse or jinx on you, but after that we are rather ignorant to the subject."

"Well..."

Within the next ten minutes, Mary had explained that after leaving the library (she did not say that Sirius had been with her, as she didn't want to get him in trouble for wandering off after they left the library) she had walked down to the shore of the Black Lake to look at the stars, which sounded like a regular thing. By this point, McGonagall looked in dire need of a shandy and a good sit down.  
After about an hour Mary had walked back up to the castle. She had been nearing the portrait of Tobias Misslethorpe when someone from behind her's wand was across her throat. She had tried to turn but someone else from the side of had put the Blinding jinx on her, causing her vision to be filled with inky black smoke. She had then pushed to the floor and-

Mary paused mid-sentence, looked down into her lap and played with the bedsheets nervously.

"Can't it wait 'till later?" Sirius said. "I don't think she can handle talking about just now."

Mary lifted her head and glared at him, "I am quite capable of talking Black." Her tone was ice cold and full of irritation.

"Take as long as you need, Miss McDonald." McGonagall interrupted in a much more human tone than usual.

Mary took a deep breath and continued. "I heard someone-a girl I think-mutter a curse under their breath and I got the-the Cruciatus Curse put on me. The bastards did it for a while, I don't exactly how long, and I could them laughing. but then they stopped, the spells were taken off and I could see again. I looked up and the first thing I saw was this big black-" She almost said 'this big black dog that turned out to be Sirius' but he quickly shook his head at her, so she changed her sentence midway through it "-er, Black stunning everyone. And then after that I cant remember."

Everyone's eyes shifted to Sirius. "She passed out, so I carried her up here and shouted for Madam Pomfrey. I told her about that some people had been stunned on the fourth floor and Madam Pomfrey did her stuff." All four flashed smiles up at Madam Pomfrey, who was trying to look modest.

"Did either of you see who did this?"

"I did see a few," Mary said. She stole a swift glance at Sirius, biting her bottom lip nervously. "Regulus Black."

She felt Sirius' hand tightened in hers. Not bearing to look at him, she trailed off two more names: Lucinda Talkalot and Rabastan Lestrange.

"What about you Black." McGonagall said.

To Sirius, her voice sounded accusing, as if she thought he was involved with it along with his brother.

"That Crouch kid, Avery and Steve Laughalot." Sirius said.

"Thank you for telling us. Get some rest now McDonald."

"Cheers Professor." Mary breathed.

Mary sank her head further into Sirius' shoulder, but McGonagall coughed loudly and said, "A quick word outside, if you will Black."

Confused, Mary frowned, but Sirius knew exactly what McGonagall wanted. He followed her and Dumbledore outside the Hospital Wing.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." She said icily. "What on earth gave you the idea to cause the death of a fellow student."

"He was-He was staying stuff about my brother, and Mary and-"

"I don't care if he was insulting the entire wizarding world, nothing, and I mean nothing, gives you the right to do to that to another human being. Mr Snape has agreed to keep Mr Lupin's lycanthropy-"

Sirius let out a sigh of relief.

"-However" She continued, "You, Pettigrew and Potter will each gain a month's worth of detention, and the privilege of the next two Hogsmeade weekends will be revoked. Take heed, Mr Black, and try to keep your head down. I doubt the Slytherins will let this matter drop."

With that, Dumbledore and McGonagall both swept back up the corridor, leaving Sirius to re-enter the Hospital Wing. When he walked back in, Pomfrey was fussing over Mary, who had gone suddenly pale. He strode over to her; Madam Pomfrey stuck out a free arm like a barrier.

"Mary needs rest," She said sternly. "And you need your schooling. Off you go, you can return at break."

"Just five more minutes, please."

She looked him up and down suspiciously before nodding her head resignedly. "Oh all right, ten minutes."

"Cheers Madam Pomfrey."

He regained his position on Mary's bed; in usual circumstances she would have been the exact opposite of ecstatic to have Sirius Black so close to her, but at that moment in time she was too weak to care.

"If it's any consolation," She said peering up at Sirius, who was glaring into an empty corner. "Regulus didn't seem too keen on, you know, what they did. It was more Lucinda and the others forcing him into it."

Sirius smiled down at her. "I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around. But thank you, I couldn't bare it if he _them_."

They sat in silence for about a minute, until he jumped off the bed.

"I'm going to offer you a deal, McDonald." He said.

Mary glared, "What deal?"

"I won't tell Dumbledore about your Uncle Arthur," Mary, who had flinched when he had said _that name, _glared at him angrily, "If you go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow"

Mary blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You heard, come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow."

"But it's not a Hogsmeade weekend."

Sirius stared blankly at her, as if she'd completely lost her marbles. "So?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After silencing his ear-splittingly loud alarm clock, Sirius slid quietly out of his bed. He searched through his trunk for his favourite pair of black jeans and his dark, tight-fitting leather jacket; he always wore this outfit on dates, as it seemed to drive the girls crazy. Although Sirius knew Mary was dating someone else and was a completely different sexual orientation anyway, he had never failed to get a girl to fancy him yet, and he was sure she liked him too...

He sat back down on his bed, burying his head in his hands. He was not used to this. Popular, clever, brilliant Sirius Black would never in a million years have guessed that his strings would be pulled by his desire for a swotty, insecure little girl.

Not before scribbling a note to James and Peter (Remus was still in the Hospital Wing recovering) informing them that he had borrowed the invisibility cloak, he walked down to the Common Room, checked the coast was clear, and pulled the cloak around him. Mary, who had been forced to stay overnight in the Hospital Wing by Pomfrey, would no doubt be up and waiting for Sirius to collect her by now. It had been difficult to convince her to go on a non-regulated Hogsmeade visit, but excitement had overcome anxiety, eventually. The one condition she had forced upon the visit was that no-one should find out, which was why there were meeting before the sun had even risen.

When Sirius entered the Hospital Wing, Mary was sat cross-legged on her bed, reading a thick novel with an immobile portrait of a woman wearing old-fashioned Muggle clothes on the front. As her eyes took in a sentence on one of the pages in the first half of the book, she giggled lightly, her eyes shining with interest and delight. The still invisible Sirius crept up to her and whispered as he ripped off the cloak, "What's that you're reading?" causing her to jump.

"Sirius!" She hissed, swatting at him with her book; he yanked it from her grasp.

"Pride and Prejudice," He read from the back cover, "There are five daughters in the Bennet family and marriage is the only career open to them' That sounds almost as dynamic as History of Magic"

"Its not supposed to be dynamic, its supposed to be entertaining," Mary snapped defensively as if it where her own flesh and blood Sirius was insulting. She took the book back and pushed it into a black messenger bag with silver spikes all over it.

Her hair, which was usually mousy brown and hanging limp and lifeless over her shoulders, was electric blue and backcombed. Her face was covered in piercings, and thick black eyeliner framed her eyes. Her baggy boyfriend jeans were carelessly ripped in places, and pinned together again with multi-coloured safety pins. The worn black t-shirt hanging over her jeans was printed with the logo of the Muggle metal band _Led Zeppelin_. Mary glared at Sirius, as if daring him to disapprove.

"You look...different" Sirius said. It must have sounded sarcastic, because Mary glared at him.

"If the infamous Sirius Black is too ashamed to be seen with me, we might as well not go"

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Sirius panicked, "I've just never seen you like this before"

"Yeah well," Mary said with a smile at Sirius' reaction, as she always did whenever anyone saw her 'weekend look' for the first time, "I'd rather only dress like this at weekends than face the wrath of McGonagall"

"Good thinking," Sirius chortled. "Hurry up, before Pomfrey wakes up"

Mary was fascinated by the cloak. All the way down to the Honeydukes passageway, she questioned him with childlike curiosity about it, and Sirius would entertain her with tales of the Marauders misdeeds which wouldn't have been possible without the cloak.

Once inside Honeydukes, Mary and Sirius (still covered in the cloak) grabbed as many sweets as possible, fighting playfully over the best ones. They left some money under the till and walked out down the empty street.

"Fancy a trip to the Three Broomsticks?" Sirius asked.

Mary took a while to answer, because she kept moving her hand out the way when Sirius tried to grab it.

"God no!" Exclaimed Mary. She concluded to stuff her hands in her pockets, which annoyed Sirius thoroughly. "Come on, there's a place way better down here."

She led him around a corner to a street with a tall building. It was built with blackened bricks thick with decades of grime and swayed unsteadily in the heavy breeze. A sign bearing the words _The Hog's Head _hung from the wall.

Sirius looked incredulously at Mary, as if he were thinking,_ do we have to come here? We'd probably catch something just by sitting down!_

"I like it here actually," She said reading his expression.

"But isn't this place a bit dodgy? McGonagall will murder us if she finds us here."

"Don't lie to me Sirius, I know you don't give a rat's arse about getting in bother otherwise we wouldn't be here at all. And yes it's dodgy, but that's why I like it."

At one side of the room was a dusty bar, behind which stood the tall, bearded barman. The room was filled with small round tables with nothing but small candle stumps atop of them. Layers of dirt covering the windows obscured most of the light from entering the room. It was dark and dingy inside, so it took a while for their eyes to adjust.

Mary walked straight to the bar, dragging a complaining Sirius behind her. When she asked the barman for two butterbeers, he looked her up and down suspiciously before handing them over.

An old, bony woman stared at the pair as they sat down. She frowned suspiciously at them, as if debating whether Sirius was with Mary for a dare or not. Mary rolled her eyes before nodding in the woman's direction.

"She doesn't expect someone like you to be on a date with someone like me."

Sirius grinned, "I thought this is and I quote 'certainly and most definitely not a date'"

"It's not" Mary snapped in a warning tone, "but that's not what she thinks"

Despite Mary's answer, Sirius couldn't help but widen his grin happily.

"I can just imagine Annabelle's reaction if she walked past now" Mary muttered under her breath, but Sirius caught it.

"What d'you mean 'Annabelle's reaction"

"How did you hear that?"

Sirius' smirk was now so big it stretched from ear to ear, "Super-sensitive dog hearing but don't change the subject."

"Promise you wont tell anyone!"

Sirius held out the little finger.

"Pinky swear."

Mary hesitated, looking not just miserable but uncharacteristically green-eyed. However she hooked her little finger in Sirius' and spoke:  
"For ages now she's, er... had a crush on you..." Mary averted her eyes from Sirius', and took another sip of butterbeer.

"Really? I thought she was just a slut."

"She is." Mary snorted, but clamped a hand over her mouth, looking ashamed of herself. After that they sat in awkward silence. All of a sudden, a pretty girl in her early twenties got up from her seat at the bar and dropped a folded piece of paper in Sirius' lap, winked at him and glided out of the pub. Mary glared after her, her nose wrinkled in disguist.  
Sirius unfolded it:

_The names Beth.  
I live two doors away.__Owl me XX_

Sirius was about to pocket the note, but he saw Mary with her eyebrows raised at him, so ripped it up instead; he didn't fancy a slap, and he had a funny feeling that any delivered by her would hurt like hell.

"So anyway," Sirius said, trying to extinguish the tension 'Beth' had created. "Tell me something about yourself."

Mary opened her mouth but closed it again a second later. "I dunno what to tell you."

He was the one to raise his eyebrows now.

"I've got an idea," She said, a light bulb flickering into action in her minds eye. "We'll each ask each other a question, and the other has to answer as honestly as is humanly possible."

They both stared silently at each other. Mary rolled her eyes.

"I'll go first, shall I?" She said. "Er...Ok, where do you see yourself in five years."

He shrugged. "I really don't know. I'll probably just take life as it happen; you know, go with the flow and all that."  
Mary smiled. "Your turn." Sirius said.

"I know this sounds stupid but I'd really like to be on Broadway. You do know what Broadway is right?"

He nodded.

"Well, I've always dreamed of that. The dramatic entrance to the final song, the single spotlight. And then I belt out a huge, breath-taking, killer note and I've got the entire crowd hanging, gazing at me in awe.."  
She shook her head. "Like I said, it's just a stupid dream."

"No it's not; after all, you never know what might happen after Hogwarts." She blushed, but he gazed fondly at her. He went to take her hand for the millionth time that day; she jerked her hand away furiously, looking like she wanted to hit him.

"Next question: what's the relationship with your family like?"

Sirius echoed Mary's expression and frowned. "Bloody dreadful," He said, "They're psychopaths, the whole lot of them. You must have guessed how bad they are from that letter I told you about last month. Needless to say, if they found I was on a da- oh you know what I mean- with you they'd completely freak. My turn?" He added. "Ok, er...Hobbies?"

"I-I like writing music." Mary said in a small voice.

Sirius blinked. "Really?" He said excitedly. "Can I read some of it?"

"No!" Mary explained quickly. "I've only ever shown Lily."

"If Evans can see it then why can't I?" He whined.

Mary rolled her eyes. "She's my best mate, duh."

"But I thought we're ma-" He began. He stopped short at her expression.

"Alright I get the hint." He reluctantly said. "so, what d'you do with them once they're written?"

She eyed him for a moment before replying. "I've got this band called Minority Misfits at home that I sing in during the holidays."

"You created a band?"

She nodded. "With my mate Ash."

"Wow..." Sirius emitted a low whistle. "That's awesome."

Mary smirked. "Do my ears deceive me?" She said sarcastically. "Did the infamous Sirius Black just give a lowly nerd like me a _compliment?"_

"Shut it."

"Touched a nerve have I?" Mary said mockingly. "Alright, next question: Do you like any Muggle bands and if you do what are your favourites?"

"Yeah and um... I guess my favourite would have to be The Beatles."

"You like The Beatles?" Mary said disbelieving. "Really?"

He shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, you just don't hit me as _that type_. Then again, I guess I don't seem like _that type_ either." She peered curiously at him, trying to figure out who he really was under the façade.

"My turn again. Have you ever been completely, flat-out, jump off a cliff drunk?" He sounded sceptical, as if this was a question he thought he already knew the answer to. Mary rolled her eyes.

"I've been drinking since the age of ten, what do you think?"

"Ten?!"

Mary's jaw tightened. "Don't you dare start judging me, as if you've never had a drink before." She said dangerously. "If you lived on a boring council estate, you'd drink to pass the time too." Her eyes flashed threateningly, which made Sirius flinch.

"Sorry" He said, knowing full well that if he didn't Mary would beat him black and blue.

She blinked. "Hang on- Did you actually just apologize?"

Sirius sighed. "Why is everyone so surprised that the word 'sorry' is in my vocabulary?"

"Because you're a stubborn git, and normally you'd rather die than apologize." She said, smiling without even realising it. "Come on, we might as well make the use of this illegal Hogsmeade weekend."

Mary, who had thankfully had the common sense that Sirius had not to restrain from spending all her money in Honeydukes, handed four sickles over to the barman and walked out into the blinding sunlight with Sirius.

They strolled along the street, keeping an eye on the early morning shoppers in case any of them were teachers or staff.

"Um, Sirius..." Mary said cautiously. "How long has James liked Lily?"

Sirius frowned, thinking hard. "Since about... Second year? Yeah, I think it was second year. Why d'you ask?"

"Look, no offence, but I don't like James. He's a twat. But like I said before, if he wants to get on Lily's good side he needs to stop acting so arrogant and stop asking her out all the time..."

As Mary continued her speech, Sirius watched her beadily, noting that this was the first chance he'd had to really _study_ Mary. The way she gestured with her hands during her monologue. The way her eyes would flit nervously over to him and the fact that the ring finger of her right hand was rough and calloused from long hours of writing.

Sirius' clear thinking mind fogged over, replaced by an impulse he knew wasn't the best idea.

Suddenly, Sirius pushed Mary into a narrow alleyway and pushed her up against the wall, her arms pinned to her sides and her breathing rapid.

"What are you-?"

But she never got to finish her sentence; Sirius pressed himself against her and crashed his lips onto hers, and his tongue was battling with hers. Mary pulled her hands out of Sirius' now loose grasp. She ran them through his hair, and a groan escaped his lips. The kiss was rough and desperate, not gentle like-

And then Mary remembered. She remembered that Annabelle liked Sirius too. She remembered what Sirius said about his family. And then she remembered Samantha, and she felt sickened with herself.

Mary pushed Sirius away from her so that he hit the opposite wall with an 'oomph.' Close to tears, Mary scurried out of the alley and headed straight for the castle.

"Mary, wait," Sirius said, grabbing hold of Mary's wrist and forcing her to look at him, "why did you stop?"

Mary sighed, blinking back tears. "Because me and you...even just snogging in a dingy alley will cause way too much drama than I can handle. Even if we kept it a secret somebody would find out."

"But they don't have to." Said Sirius. "I've got the cloak, and we can both perform god enough concealment charms. Think about it Mary, you know we'd be good together."

"But what about Samantha...?" Asked Mary, biting her lip nervously.

"We don't need to make it serious at first. If it develops into something more, er...complicated _then_ you can make up your mind about Samantha."

Mary frowned, thinking deeply. Sirius closed his eyes, counting down the seconds in his head: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. And then...

"Ok." Came a small voice.

Sirius' eyes wrenched open; Mary looked flustered but excited at the same time.

"Excuse me?"

"Ok." Mary repeated, a wide grin spreading across her face. "What's that worst thing that could happen?"


End file.
